


The new waiter

by nightmarecatcher



Category: 'Allo 'Allo!
Genre: Canon LGBTQ Male Character, Comedy, Drama, Enemy Lovers, Gay Male Character, Homosexuality, LGBTQ Character, M/M, Male Homosexuality, Period-Typical Racism, Post-War, Romance, World War II
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-31
Updated: 2020-08-29
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:48:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22051309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nightmarecatcher/pseuds/nightmarecatcher
Summary: Anthony starts his job as a waiter at René's café, in case to help out his family financially. He meets a quite strange german soldier at his new wrokplce, who becomes a little bit too fond of him, before he could even notice it.
Comments: 16
Kudos: 15





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> First Gruber/Original character fanfiction?
> 
> Disclaimer: I am not a native English speaker, please excuse my mistakes. Thank you :D

Anthony has already heard the term 'homosexual' before he starts working at René's café. Sometimes he even wonders he might be one of the kind as well. He has never experienced the feeling of romantic or physical attraction towards a woman nor a man. It's irrelevant, he can't imagine himself in a relationship. Love seems so distant and unreal. People just marry someone these days. Love means absolutely nothing. He doesn't want to just marry a woman, make children, pretend to be what others expect him to be. The young male wants much more than that and he knows it's impossible.

Now he's just trying to be happy on his own, by working and being around mostly nice people. No romance is needed to feel good.

Anthony starts his job at the small restaurant today. The owner, René seems to be a very kind and morally correct sort of boss, at least so far. The two other servant girls are overly flirty with the new waiter, although he shows no interest in them.

"I hope you don't mind their behaviour... The costumers are very fond of my girls." René says and laughs in embarrasment.

"I can believe they are." the younger laughs too. "I don't mind until they don't cross any borders, sir."

The two restaurant workers are standing behind the bar, discussing details of the job which they haven't had the chance to talk about yet. Meanwhile, the waitresses are preparing the place to open soon.

"You know, a big number of my guests are german officers." the older tells his newest employee. "We must treat them with respect if we don't want to get shot. You understand that, right?"

"Yes, sir. I will not disappoint you." he promises determinedly. Anythony is already greatly engaged to his new job.

"Many of them are somewhat kind people, I almost consider them friends but there are also disdainful ones who look at you with suspicion all the time. Please, be careful." he warns the young boy in a truly caring tone.

"Thank you for informing me, sir. I will look out."

"Good." he nods. "Now, let's get down to work. Yvette!" he shouts for the tall, brown haired waitress. "Please open the café."

"Yes, René." the girl walks out of the kitchen and turns the 'closed' board to the other side where 'open' is written.

\---

Today Anthony's task is to take the orders from the guests and tell them to his boss' wife, Madame Edith, who works in the kitchen. The customers are mostly French in the earlier hours. They look at the new waiter with a surprised expression, not necessarily in a good way. Men would be much happier if the recently hired worker was another female.

'It's not my fault that they prefer women. At least the people who will like me, they won't feel this way because they find certain parts of my body attractive but because of my kindness.' he tries to think about the positive side of the situation. The boy considers it disgusting how males objectify the opposite sex. He could never treat a human being this way.

Few minutes later three german officers arrive at the café. Two men and a younger woman who might be a private. René hurries to greet them, finds a table where they can sit.

"Good morning colonel, captain and Helga." he says. "What a pleasure to see you again." it's hard to decide whether the man's pretending to be happy to meet them or he actually is.

Maybe he is. The soldiers coming to this café must be paying well. 'Or are there other reason?' Anthony wonders. Then he realizes it's not his business anyway. The boy has been working here for two hours. It will take time until his supervisors grow to trust him enough to reveal confidential information about themselves, such as their viewpoint on the war. It's also a possibility that he will never get to know things like this.

René sits down at the officers' table before asking Anthony to take the three people's orders. They start talking quietly. The new waiter should not be listening. He has to respect his boss' privacy. He goes to the bar and starts serving people there.

Nearly ten minutes pass by until the café owner stands up from the table. He looks at the waiter behind the bar and beckons. The younger puts down the glass he's cleaning, goes there quickly.

"This is Anthony, my new waiter. He's going to handle your orders today." René introduces his employee with a smile on his face.

The officers look at him with a neutral expression. They must have been happier for a new girl as well... At least the two males.

"It's an honor to meet you." the boy says politely. He's a little bit nervous and intimidated by the soldiers. They are deadly enemies, after all.

The officers greet him respectfully too, which is surprising. It must be because of their friendship with the restauranteur.

Anthony takes the orders. They all have terrifying german accent which gives him literal creeps. But if he's going to work here, sooner or later he needs to get used to it.

\---

His first day is going quite well so far. It's early in the evening, it's slowly getting dark outside. The customers who show up at this time mostly come to drink alcohol. Anthony is serving them, behind the bar. He's afraid the hardest part of the day is just about to begin. There are a lot more people in the café than earlier. Some of the morning guests come again, like the three officers, the friends of René. He's also seeing new faces.

When he has nothing to do, the blond waiter chats with his colleagues, the two girls. They are a little bit annoying as they try to impress him with their flirting skills while he couldn't be more uninterested. Beyond that, they are nice company.

At the moment, all the employees have something to do. So many customers in such a small café. Now Anthony completely understands why they needed another waiter.

Some of the people are already drunk which can be quite irritating for someone who's not used to handling individuals in this condition. The girls are very much experienced, they always know what to say and what to do. Often they take a man upstairs and only come back after at least twenty minutes. Anthony doesn't even want to think about what happens during these occassions. His innocence couldn't take it.

He notices Yvette going up the stairs with the colonel behind her. 'No way! He's so old...' he thinks and gets disgusted. 'These girls will do anything for money!'

For the young male the most shocking fact about this is how women let men to treat them this way. They don't mind being treated like an object, like a source of pleasure. That's very sad. The least they should expect is to be seen as human beings. Our society teaches them to not expect anything but do what others wish. They don't even have the chance to learn self-respect.

Anthony was very happy to be born male at this period of time. 'Will women ever have more rights?' he wonders. Probably not.

The ringing of the doorbells makes him come back to reality from his deep thoughts.


	2. Chapter 2

A quite young soldier enters the café. Anthony stops doing his task for a moment and takes a swift glance at the new customer; he appears to be in a happy mood, you can tell by his facial expression. His movements clearly testify about confidence. Also, he is much more charming and good looking than most of the germans the waiter has seen before. 

He greets the other officers politely, then looks at René and starts smiling a little bit too much while approaching him. The café owner is standind behind the bar, pouring drinks for the guests.

"Oh hello René." the recently arrived person says to the middle aged man in a cheerful tone, his voice is quite high pitched. He leans on the bar, not bothered by the fact that how close he is to the other individual. "What a pleasure to see you again. I missed you."

"We just met yesterday lieutenant Gruber, but I'm happy to see you too." he replies and forces an awkward smile on his face.

"I wish I could come earlier today but I had work to do." the younger man apologizes.

"I can believe you are busy on these hard war days." René states.

"Yes I am. I often have to train younger soldiers. To be honest, I like to work with inferiors because they obey me in every situation, you know?" Gruber tells proudly.

For a moment René stops and almost drops the glass he's cleaning. Nevermind. He should have gotten used to such comments from him by now.

"Anyways, it was an exhausting day." the officer notes. 

"I am so sorry to hear that lieutenant, I hope you can have some rest and pleasant time in my café." the older tries his best to hide how forced these kind words are. Most likely he is doing an excellent job because Gruber doesn't notice it. 

"Oh René, what a caring man you are! How could I not have a great time when I am around you?" the soldier is never too shy to express his fondness of the café owner, who doesn't really know how to reply. 

Mostly he gives no more reaction than a nervous laugh or a confused grimace. 

"Your usual?" René asks after few seconds of silence, and tries not to get in eye contact with the officer.

"Yes, please."

Anthony is observing the scene from few metres away. He wonders, why is this soldier so friendly with René? How can he smile so honestly while a terrible war is going on out there? How can he be so delighted? It's highly unsympathetic. The waiter finds him annoying and interesting at the same time. One thing is certain; the lieutenant got Anthony's attention.

He's tempted to go there and greet the man, but he's not sure René would approve. He decides to go there because of other reasons. 

"Should I bring some more wine up from the basement, sir?" he asks, standing next to the soldier, but looks at his boss, who is behind the bar, pouring cognac for the customer.

Lieutenant Gruber notices the new waiter, stares at him for a remarkably long time, observes every part of the younger person. Anthony pretends like he doesn't see what is quite hard not to see. This man must be one of the germans who the café owner was talking about; the ones who always look at you with suspicion and will get into your mind, no matter how far they have to go to achieve that. Although, he didn't exactly imagine them like this.

"Oh René, who is this handsome young man standing next to me?" the lieutenant asks in a very curious tone, pointig at Anthony, still looking at him. 

The boy starts to feel slightly uncomfortable. The last thing he expected is a compliment from the officer. This must be a trick to gain his trust.

"He... He's my new waiter, Anthony." René answers after hesitating for a moment. "And Anthony, this is lieutenant Gruber, one of our most loyal customers." 

"It's an honor to meet you." the youngest says and finally looks at the strange man, who is still laying his eyes on the boy. 

His voice is shaking a little bit. He has no idea why but he's slightly intimidated by this soldier. None of the other germans bothered him, but this one is different. Something's quite weird about him. Why is he overly friendly? That's his nature? No way.

"Nice to meet you too." he smiles and shakes the waiter's hand who can barely hide how surprised he is by the gesture.

Anthony was not prepared for this movement. No other germans shake hands with french peasants.

"You have artistic hands, just like René." he states, and somehow he's really satisfied with his observation. "Is he your uncle?"

"No, we are not relatives." the younger replies. "I just applied for the job and he chose me." 

"René has finally proven that he has a good taste if it comes to male waiters." the lieutenant says, while looking at the middle aged man, still with a smile on his face.

Compliment over compliment. Anthony is confused, he doesn't understand what is happening. He hopes his supervisor will explain everything when they close the café for today.

"Would you like to drink with me? How old are you?" Gruber enquires.

What is this? Already an interrogation? 

"I'm nineteen-" the waiter opens his mouth to answer, but René quickly interrupts.

"He can't now. Another time maybe. We all are very busy now. Please Anthony, go and bring some more wine up here, we are running out." he saves his employee from the unpleasant situation.

"Yes sir." the youngest replies in a truly thankful tone. 

The lieutenant is disappointed. He grabs his drink, finds a table and sits down alone.

The waiter wishes he never started talking to the officer. The recent conversation was highly distressing and weird. But at the same time, it was exciting.

In the rest of the evening, he tries to focus on work, mostly successfully. He must not let anyone interrupt him, not even the strange soldier, who stares at him each time he has the chance to do so. 

This job is a great opportunity for Anthony, none of his previous ones had been paying as good as this one's going to. He has a lot of siblings and a mother, raising all the children alone. He is the oldest son, so he needs to work and send most of the money to his family. He's honestly happy to help and is determined to do his best to maintain this job until he gets an even better one. 

\---

After they close the place later in the evening, Anthony and the girls start cleaning up the tables one by one. René is behind the bar, washing glasses and Madam Edith is probably already asleep.

It was an exhausting day for the new waiter, but the two waitresses don't seem to be tired at all. It's only Monday and they're completely used to their work. He should get used to it soon as well.

In conclusion, the first day of the job was a positive experience. There were some things harder to handle; how everyone's so disappointed by the fact that he's a boy, watching Maria and Yvette go upstairs with older men, talking to german officers... But that's it. Beyond that, he thinks this is the perfect place for him. Of course, it's also physically tiring to be a waiter but Anthony is young and fresh. This isn't going to be a problem.

He completed his first day perfectly, so he earned the right to stay there and move in. René, his wife and the other employees live above the café. There's a very small empty room for the new waiter so he doesn't have to go home to the neighbouring village every night. It's not luxurious but enough for him. He will only sleep there.

The three workers finish the celaning. Maria and Yvette wish René good night, then go upstairs. Anthony stays to talk to his supervisor.

"How was the first day?" the older starts the conversation.

"I think everything was going well, sir." he answers in a slightly proud tone.

"I think the same, so do not worry. Your performance was good today, let's not change it tomorrow." René smiles and it's obvious he's truly satisfied with Anthony's work.

The young waiter couldn't be happier. He was so scared that he won't be good enough to stay.

"It is not going to change." he promises.

"I believe you. You seem to be much more of a honest person than my girls." the café owner nervously laughs.

"To me, the girls seem to be nice as well but you know them better, sir." Anthony states, he's pretendig he has no idea what kind of dishonesty his boss is talking about.

"They are not calm and respectful like you. They are lively and wild." both of them start laughing. "But all the people are different, are not they?"

"You are right."

They sit down at a table, talk about a lot of things, mostly about the café and the customers. René happens to like him very much, which is understandable. He appraciates a male colleague in a household full of women. 

When they start talking about the german guests, Anthony takes the chance and asks about the strange soldier who arrived eraly in the evening and sat alone with his drink until closing time.

"What about Lieutenant Gruber?" he asks and watches as René's smile disappears from his face.

"I wanted to talk about him with you." the older man replies.

"Why does he act like that? Are you two friends?" Anthony continues with the questions.

"He is a little bit different. He is not like most men." the café owner tries to explain, hopes that the boy understands. He doesn't.

"Yes, he is very different. He is not like any other officers. Is he a special spy, who gets into people's minds with tricks like constantly complimenting them?" he tries to figure out very hard.

"No, he is not a spy, as long as I know. Your mind is not where he wants to get into." René gives more obvious hints.

"Then he is just like this by nature? Smiling all day, being friendly with enemies?"

"Yes. That is his quite unnatural nature." 

"Is there a reason why? Or should I stop asking questions?" Anthony starts to feel rude. Actually, he is just curious.

"It is fine to ask, as I said I wanted to talk about him. But please wait and let me try to clarify it for you. He is like..."

René starts to imitate feminine movements. He hopes it's enough demonstration, but he's afraid the waiter hasn't even heard about the thing which is being explained.

"I am so sorry but I do not understand." he gets just more and more confused. "Is he... Is he a woman? I mean he has a uniquely feminine aura-" 

"No, no." René raises his hand to his forehead. Lieutenant Gruber can put him in weird situations even when he's not present.

"I am out of ideas, sir." the younger confesses.

"He is one of them." his boss sighs.

"One of who?"

"He is a homosexual." René has to say out loud the word. "Do you know what does that mean?"

Anthony doesn't respond for a few seconds, just staring at the other person.

"Yes sir, I believe so." he finally answers.

"Thank God." the older is very relieved.

"I could have known."

"It is okay that you did not know." he conforts the embarrassed waiter. "Anyways, I do not mind people who are different. The case is, he seems to be a nice man, most reliable one of all the germans here, but our situation is complicated. He fancies me since the day we first met."

"Oh... That must be very uncomfortable, sir. I am sorry to hear that." Anthony expresses his empathy.

"It is uncomfortable sometimes. Fortunately he has not crossed any lines yet, even if he is trying hard to do so." nervous laugh again. "I warn you to be careful with him if you do not want him to fall for you too."

"Thank you for warning me." 

"I could have warn you before you two met. But we can not change that now." 

"It is okay. I will be careful." Anthony promises.

"Do you mind him?" the café owner asks.

"No, I do not. I am relived that he is not a secret agent." Anthony responds honestly.

"Alright then. He is my friend, after all. The only person I would call friend from the germans." René admits and shrughs his shoulders.

It's evident that the middle aged man has very mixed feelings for the lieutenant. Anthony finds the situation quite interesting, and somehow he likes the fact that the strange man is a homosexual. He has never met a person from the kind before, he had no idea what are these people like. Now he knows. They are overly friendly and honest, but weird. At least this one.

'How many gay people exist?' he wonders. 'One in a million? No, there must be more. One in ten thousand? Maybe. Anyways, they are hard to find in a world where being different is the greatest sin.'

After a few minutes, they finish the conversation. The new waiter didn't think that him and his boss will have such a confidental talk on the first day, yet they did. René likes him, trusts him. This is good because Anthony will never betray him.

They go to sleep eventually. The young waiter is having a hard time falling asleep tonight. His thoughts are keeping him awake. Which is normal because he has just started a whole new life. He moved out from his home. He met a lot of new people who are mostly nice. This was an astonishing day and the fact that the next days will be just the same, makes him feel contented.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please comment to let me know your opinion on this chapter ^-^


	3. Chapter 3

The next morning when Anthony wakes up he feels like he hasn't slept all night, although he did, just not too much. It is quite strange to get up somewhere else for the first time. 

He already misses his family, his little siblings who are adorable but sometimes too lively. Also his mother who is always patient and kind to her children. Not being around them makes him sense sour loneliness, but then he realizes he's going to earn this money for them, to save his brothers and sisters from starving and living in horrible poverty. They need financial background to be in a fine environment, so they have better chances to survive the critical years of childhood. 

Anthony's loneliness is the smallest problem at the moment. He quickly chases these self-centered thoughts away. The waiter gets on very well with the family he's under the same roof with, so there is no rightful reason to complain. He even felt a slight bit of happiness last night but waking up like this, partly destroyed the great optimism.

He gets dressed, puts on his remotely elegant waiter suit, fixes his messy blond hair then hurries downstairs to the café. The others are already there, preparing the place for opening time. It makes him feel guilty to be the last person to arrive, he should've woken up earlier. Anthony can't be late on his second work day.

"Good morning." he greets his colleagues in a little bit scared tone.

"Good morning Anthony." they greet him kindly. Seems like no one is mad at him, which is very relieving. But he must not be late again.

"I am so sorry that I am late." he apologizes regretfully. 

"It is alright. The girls are often late too, sometimes they go to sleep when we are supposed to open." Madame Edith comforts her newest employee and giggles. 

Anthony starts thinking, why would Maria and Yvette go to sleep in the morning...? Then he figures out what might be the reason. They probably work at night when they are in need of extra money.

"What shall I do?" he asks his boss' wife.

"Open the café. I think everything is ready, right René?" she enquires permission from the man who is behind the bar, as usually.

"Yes." he answers briefly and continues cleaning the glasses.

The waiter opens the place. Five minutes later, the half café is filled with french men. He takes their orders and delivers them as soon as possible. 

Work keeps him distracted, he has no time to think about negative things, such as the ones he had in mind earlier in the morning. 

It's always good to be important and working here makes him feel like he is, unlike at his previous workplaces where his supervisors made him feel the exact opposite way, and didn't even pay half as much as he deserved. This place is completely different, the bosses treat him with kindess and respect, just like they were friends or at least good acquintances long time ago.

The colonel and the captain arrive almost the same time they did yesterday. The female private is not accompanying them now. They order breakfast from Anthony, then ask René to sit at their table, again. The three people have a seemingly friendly and peaceful conversation.

'Is he a collaborator? Are they possibly blackmailing him?' new questions form in the waiter's mind. 'Or does he only do this to maintain the popularity of the café?'

Anthony usually reads people very well, he finds out if they are on the wrong side from the first impression they make. However, his new supervisor appears to be more complicated than that. The young boy doesn't know yet how complex René's situation actually is.

Few minutes later lieutenant Gruber arrives as well. Today he came earlier as he promised René, his fancied one.

Anthony remembers the conversation with his boss last evening. It was quite interesting. Now he sees the weird soldier from a whole new perspective.

"Good morning colonel, captain and ohh René you are here too. What a pleasure to see you in our circles." he greets them and smiles, appears to be in a very happy mood again, which is no surprise according to yesterday's events. 

"Good morning lieutenant." René says politely.

"He is in our circles, not yours." the captain implies that the recently arrived officer should leave them alone. Are they really going to fight over the middle aged café owner?

Fontunately not. Gruber just makes a jealous face expression and sits down alone at another table. It would be more than bold to talk back to officers in higher ranks than him. 

René continues the discussion with the two other men, Maria and Yvette are busy, so it looks like Anthony has to take his orders. He is still kind of bewildered by the lieutenant's presence, but the reason is something other than yesterday. Now he knows the truth about the older; he is one of them. Getting in contact with a man who prefers men as his partners may be a slightly risky thing, but he tries not to worry about the possible consequences.

Anthony goes to his table, about to greet him but the soldier is faster.

"Nice to meet you again, Anthony." somehow today his voice sounds even more high pitched and feminine. 

"The pleasure is mine, lieutenant." he replies automatically. 

"I remember you did not have any time for me last evening. Maybe now we can get to know each other." he suggests and seems to be delighted by the idea.

"Of course, that would be great." the younger responds. He wans't prepared for this. He could have been. If the soldier wanted to talk to him yesterday, why wouldn't he try again now? 

The waiter is very scared to have a conversation with him. He would be scared to talk to any germans, but he is even more afraid of this one, although René said he is harmless, at least so far. Then why is Anthony still frightened?

He remembers all the compliments he got from the older yesterday. They were probably honest. He has never really gotten compliments from anyone before, except his family members.

"May you bring cognac for us and sit with me for a while?" the officer asks.

"I am not quite certain René would approve if I drank and sat down during work time." he tries to save himself.

"I am sure he would not mind. He does the same all the time. But if he is mad at you, I will tell him not to be." he promises and smiles at the young waiter. "We are good friends with René." he attaches this very important piece of information.

"Okay then." Anthony says when he acknowledges that there is no escape. "I will be back in a minute."

"Excellent. I can not wait." he is overly excited. 

The younger pours two drinks behind the bar. His hands are shaking because of his increasing nervousness. He hopes that the officer will not notice. 

Anthony wants to show confidence in front of the customers, hide all of his insecurity and flaws. If people realize your mistakes, they will point them out as many times as they have the chance to do so. That was the first thing he learned when he started working few years ago.

He takes a deep breath and forces his hands to stop shaking. He goes back to the lieutenant, puts the drinks on the table and sits down on the opposite side. The waiter has no idea what should he do next. That's the first time when a guest invites him to talk and this person is not just a casual guest; he is a german soldier. 

Should he start the conversation or let the other man do it? Which option is more polite? He decides to stay silent and wait for lieutenant Gruber to start talking. Anthony has no idea what to say anyways. 

"How are you feeling on your second day here at René's café?" fortunately the officer has no difficulties with beginning a simple conversation.

"I am feeling good, thank you. Everyone is very kind to me." the waiter smiles lightly.

"They better be kind to such a respectful, hard-working young man like yourself." he says and sips from his drink.

A compliment again. Knowing that Gruber is gay and seems to admire him makes Anthony feel a little bit uncomfortable. He doesn't know how to handle a situation like this. He has never been admired by anyone before and he thought he will never be. 

"I am very thankful for that they treat me this way." he states honestly, tries to ignore the embarrasment he feels.

"I have always been wondering what sort of boss dear René is, when no one sees him. Looks like he is one of the good ones." the officer keeps smiling at the younger.

"Yes he definitely is." the waiter agrees. "I have only been here for two days but I do not think he will change the way he treats me. I recognize the bad kind of people from miles away." 

"How come you recognize them so easily? Have you met too many of them?" he asks and his smile changes to a concerned expression.

"Almost all my previous supervisors were like that." Anthony admits and sighs. He realizes he shouldn't have said this because now the lieutenant will probably pity him.

"I am so sorry to hear that. How many jobs have you had so far?"

"Seven, in the past four years." he replies.

"That is a lot of bad bosses. I wish we met sooner so I could have protected you." he grabs Anthony's hand which is lying on the table and holds it quite tight.

The waiter feels overwhelmed by this simple touch, his heart starts pounding, his face goes red and his forehead starts to sweat. He must stay calm, or at least pretend to stay calm.

"It was alright, I quit when I felt like things are going to get bad." he says while trying to breathe normally.

"This is good to know. Why did you have to work so much in the past years?" the soldier asks.

"I have a big family, a lot of little siblings and a widow mother." he responds. What a positive progress, now the other man will pity him even more. He didn't plan to share his personal life with lieutenant Gruber, but it happened and he can't take it back.

"Must be a very hard situation."

"Everything is fine now, this job will be paying well enough." Anthony smiles. "What about you, lieutenant? How long have you been here in Nouvion?" he asks because he gets enough of talking about his own life.

"I have only been here for a month but I am already in love with this place. You french people can be strange at times, but this is not necessarily a bad thing." he laughs. The waiter is sure he didn't mean this as an insult. "Before I arrived, I have been on the russian front." he notes and makes a proud face expression.

"A hero from the russian front!" Anthony pretends to be amazed. "I knew you are a real fighter." he forces a smile on his face again. The pressure on him is getting harder and harder since the older man still hasn't let go of his hand.

"Oh thank you, dear." he seems to be really contented by the compliment from the younger. "I could not stay longer, they sent me back because of reasons." he notes mysteriously.

Anthony decides to break off the hand holding. He moves his hand away, grabs his glass of cognac and drinks from it. He is not even nearly used to the taste of alcohol. His family has never had the money for such things so he didn't have the chance to try it. Of course he wants to hide how unfamiliar alcohol is for him. It is quite hard but the lieutenant doesn't seem to notice.

The waiter puts his hand back on the table, so it's not so obvious that he only moved to stop the hand holding. He quickly realizes he should have kept it off the table instead; Gruber starts holding his hand again. He simply continues the interrupted touch. Anthony was naive enough to think he wouldn't do it.

He wonders how should he go on with the conversation but the older is faster as always.

"Were you born here in Nouvion?" he asks. Oh no, they will talk about Anthony again, he fails to avoid it all the time.

"No, I lived in the neighbouring village my entire life. My family lives there. I moved here just yesterday." he responds and thinks very hard how to escape talking about his life.

"Then you must be lonely here, without your family and any close friends." the soldier looks truly worried and sad.

Anthony is sad too, because the other man is completely right. 

"Do not worry about me, I am sure I will make friends easily here." he states uncertainly. He has never really had friends, besides his siblings. 

"You have already made one. I am your friend." the officer tries to comfort the younger. Does he even realize they are enemies? What the hell is wrong with this person? Why is he even a nazi? They never act like this. 

'Could not be better.' Anthony thinks. 'I just made a deadly enemy my friend. To be more correct, he made himself my friend. These germans do not only invade countries but people's privacy as well. Or is it just because he is gay?'

"I am happy to hear this, lieutenant. Thank you." he pretends to appreciate the intention.

"No need to thank me. I am really good at making people not lonely." the older smiles meaningfully.

Anthony doesn't want to know what he might mean by this. He only knows he will not get rid of this man until the end of the damn war. Very well.

"Do you have many friends?" he asks since he can't think of anything else to say.

"Yes I have quite a lot already. Most of my inferiors adore me." he says in an overly delighted tone.

"I can understand why." the waiter notes but regrets it the moment when he says the four words out loud. Gruber might mistakes it as a big compliment.

"Oh thank you Anthony." he definitely thinks it was a compliment. "You see, I am an open book. This is how they know they can come to me."

The lieutenant isn't aware of that the waiter knows about his homosexuality so he's trying to hint about it. 

"Yes, it can be seen from miles away how friendly you are." Anthony pretends to be uninformed.

"Yes but I am also-" he tries to say something but the colonel interrupts him.

"Gruber! We need to go now, I just got informed that the general wishes to see the three of us immediately!" he shouts while he's standing up from his table, surrounded by privates who probably conveyed the general's message. 

The lieutenant seems to become very disappointed.

"I am so sorry, I must go. I hope we can finish our conversation later." he says in a sorrowful tone.

"Of course." Anthony promises.

The officer finally lets go of the younger's hand, drinks the rest of his cognac, puts on his hat and gets up from the table. His glare testifies about great concern and confusion as he looks back to the younger before leaving. 

"Have a nice day Anthony." he says before he hurries out of the café.

"You too, lieutenant." the waiter sighs in great relief as the three officers leave.

He gets back to work and hopes that René will not be angry because of his twenty minute talk with Gruber - which felt like forever. But fortunately his boss doesn't seem to be bothered, he won't even mention the event. It's quite a normal thing in his café that the employees drink and talk with the customers.

Anthony doesn't feel well. He had a quite personal conversation with a german soldier, which included hand holding, eye contact, compliments and smiling. This is so absurd and not right. He feels like he's betraying his nation and most important beliefs. He shouldn't be the friend of an enemy. 

What would his mother think? Would she even forgive? She didn't raise his son to be a collaborator.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please let me know your opinion on this chapter and also your theories about what will happen ^^


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry for taking really long to share the new chapter. I finished it months ago, but I hesitated if I should share it. Eventually I came to the decision to do so, here it is, I hope you enjoy!! ^^

The rest of the day goes normally. Anthony focuses on work, he tries to be very kind to every customer, even the ones who are not necessarily fond of him yet because they hopefully expected another pretty waitress. 

At least lieutenant Gruber sincerely appreciates that he is a boy.

The waiter doesn't take a break even for five minutes, he is really energized, not sure why. The excitement that comes with the new job might be causing this effect.

He slowly starts getting on well with the two waitresses, although they are still eagerly trying to get laid by him. Probably the thought that Anthony is actually an innocent virgin hasn't even crossed their naughty minds. They are convinced that every man is overly sexual, no exceptions.

The young male is the exact opposite of a sexual person. He doesn't really like the idea of having an intercourse with a woman. The idea of intimacy grosses him out, scares him. He wouldn't even know what to do and how, it is just too complicated, unnecessary. Of course, he isn't planning to share his odd viewpoint with anyone. It's no one's business, especially not the hungry waiteresses'. They'd probably laugh at him mercilessly. 

When he thinks about such things, it always crosses his mind that he might be homosexual. But Anthony doesn't feel attracted to men either. They are mostly disgusting, with rare exceptions.

Maybe he's just too young for this and he will change his mind in few years. Marry a woman, make children and live an ordinary life. Sounds awful at the moment, even though he is a family centered person. 

He wants to earn money, help out his family until they are in need, then continue studying and travel the world, try out living in multiple countries. This is only going to work when the war ends and the world goes back to normal. - Was it ever normal? 

Anthony has a lot of plans but no one to share them with. He doesn't want to be alone forever but he just feels like he is incapable of maintaining personal relationships. They are so overwhelming, so difficult to handle.

Maybe if he finally found out about his sexuality, he would be able to look for a partner who's good for him. And his preference is not the only thing he has no idea about. The young waiter realizes he barely knows anything about himself. With this confusion inside his heart, it's not a surprise he has no love life and feels like he doesn't even long for one. 

The hours pass, Anthony still hasn't gotten tired, although he does the work of two people, which is a good thing since Maria and Yvette are lazy sometimes. As the evening comes, they start to take men upstairs, leave the waiter alone when the most customers are present. How nice from them. 

The three german friends of René don't return today. Probably they finally got something to do. Most of the officers here don't do anything but drink and mess with french women. Must be good, spending the war like a holiday.

Anthony feels relieved because he didn't have to meet lieutenant Gruber again. That conversation in the morning was highly uncomfortable. René looked at him weirdly after he saw the two of them holding hands. The waiter had to explain he had no choice. Fortunately his boss completely understood it, he knows best how clingy and touchy that one soldier is. And he also attached he wouldn't intervene with his employees' personal life anyways.

The officer will most likely come back the next morning so Anthony won't get away with it forever. He tries to make himself believe that the situation is actually not that bad. It's not like Gruber fancies him, he just wants to be his friend, right? René is on a much worse level. 

\---

Waking up in the morning in his new bed feels a little less awful than yesterday, but Anthony is still homesick. He's afraid he will never get used to this but giving up on the third day is not his way. He decides to stay focused and let time ease his moderate sadness.

He gets ready then goes downstairs. Fortunately Anthony is not late today, he has arrived on time to help the others prepare the café for opening time.

"How did you sleep?" Maria asks him while they are cleaning the tables.

"It was alright, thank you." the waiter replies. "What about you?"

"I felt a little lonely last night." the girl says in an overly sorrowful tone.

It is not easy to believe because in the evening, she wasn't alone for a single moment. But maybe she was at night. What a rare occasion.

"I am so sorry to hear that." he responds and realizes where this conversation is supposed to lead.

"You are lonely too, are you not?" she wonders. "This is a new place for you."

"I miss my family, but I like it here too." Anthony states confidently.

"My room's door is always open for you on lonely nights." the waitress smiles and holds an awkwardly long eye contact.

"Thank you for your offer but I am still going to reject it, I am sorry." he tells Maria and sighs. It's extremely awkward for him but he tries to stay calm and pretend not to be embarrassed.

The girl makes an angry gesture at him, then goes away. She wants to go to the kitchen but René stops her.

"How many times have I told you to leave the new waiter alone?" he scolds Maria. "We have work to do in the back room anyways."

They go into the previously named room and close the door. This action is a little bit suspicious but Anthony tries not to see much into it. Maybe they are going to clean it and don't want the dust to come out to the café.

He continuous on with his own task and wonders why are so many people trying to seduce him. These girls can get literally anyone to sleep with them. Why do they want him too? To make their collection of men even bigger? Probably.

He really is a little bit lonely, he would feel pleased to have friends and individuals to spend time with, but most people want more than that. Everyone has ulterior motives which makes him feel sick. The young waiter just wishes to have company.

Few minutes later René and Maria come out of the back room. The man tells the waitress to open the place as he sees everything is ready.

Lieutenant Gruber is one of the first people to arrive to the café. As it seems, he is in a hurry. He doesn't look happy today, rather nervous. What happened? What could break his annoying optimism?

As the soldier notices that Anthony is staring at him, he lightly smiles but doesn't approach him which makes the waiter relieved. He shouldn't have looked at the older man for so long but it is truly interesting to see him in such a mood.

Gruber goes straight to the bar where the café owner stands.

"Hello René." he says but not in his usual happy tone. He might even be mad at the middle aged man. "I hope you have few minutes for me because we need to talk about something serious." 

Anthony is tempted to get closer and try to overhear the conversation but such an action would be completely against his moral principles.

"Of course lieutenant, what is the matter?" the café owner asks, as he stops cleaning the bar. His face goes pale in five seconds.

"The general is quite mad because we have not caught any members of the resistance yet. We suspect that your café is an important place for them and so you are." the soldier shares his supervisor's theory.

René looks like his heart is about to stop. The waiter in the other side of the room doesn't really understand what's going on since he can't hear the conversation.

"None of this is true! I do not know anyone from the resistance!" the middle aged man starts to talk louder as he freaks out.

Anthony catches the word "resistance". There is one in Nouvion? And his boss may be in connection with them? This is more than exciting. He might even be a part of it one day. He just needs to gain René's trust. But it's also possible that the whole situation is a misunderstanding.

"I want to believe you, but the facts are not lying. We honestly did not mean to spy on you - at least me - but we noticed suspicious activity in here." Gruber explains.

"What will happen now, lieutenant?" the older enquires. His face expression shows that he is highly concerned.

"Your house will be searched through. I came here to warn you. I do not want anything to be found, dear René. I would be very disappointed if we had to arrest you." his angry tone changes into worry. The officer tries to stay strict but he can't hide how much he cares about the café owner's safety and well being.

"Thank you so much for the warning, I assure you nothing unusual will be found here." René promises and wipes off the sweat drops of his forehead.

"Continue on with your day, like I did not make this visit." lieutenant Gruber says and heads towards the door without saying goodbye. 

He is about to leave when he notices Anthony again.

"Oh I almost forgot you." he approaches the younger.

"Good morning, lieutenant." Anthony greets the soldier and tries to avoid eye contact.

"Meet when I return in the evening?" he smiles.

"I will be just right here." the waiter promises and forces a smile on his face too.

'Not like I could be anywhere else. This is a full-time job.' he thinks.

"Fantastic. Now I must go." 

"Have a great day, lieutenant." Anthony says in a genuinely happy tone since he is relieved he doesn't have to chat with the officer now.

"You too, dear." he finally leaves the café in a hurry.

The young waiter wonders what did Gruber exactly talk about with René. The only thing he knows is that it has something to do with the resistance. He wants to find out more. Maybe when they meet later, the soldier will invite him for a drink, so they can talk again. This way Anthony could get information about the resistance from the older man without crossing any moral borders by listening to private conversations.

\--- 

Later, in the evening, almost everything happens as Anthony imagined it would. The lieutenant arrives just after the colonel and the captain. Sadly, he always comes alone, they won't wait for him.

The young soldier invites the waiter for a glass of wine, he pays for both of them. They take a seat at a table in front of the bar.

"How was your day, Anthony?" Gruber asks then drinks from his wine.

"It was alright, thank you lieutenant. I had a lot of work to do but I really enjoy my job at René's café so far. What about you?" he hopes the other man will drop something about the resistance.

"Today was definitely better than yesterday. The general was very cross with us but everything is fine now. We have things under control." the officer replies mysteriously.

"What was the problem if I may ask?" 

"I would happily share it with you, but I am not permitted to give away informations about the work of the army. It is very confidential, I am sorry." he says in a sorrowful tone.

It is not confidential enough to not to tell René, though. 

Anthony gets a little upset then he realizes he has no right and no reason to be. Gruber has known the café owner for over a month but he met the new waiter just two days ago. It is natural he doesn't trust him.

"I completely understand, lieutenant." he states honestly.

"I can tell you any other things you may like to know." the older smiles meaningfully.

Anthony doesn't want to be rude but he has no idea what to ask. All the questions that form in his head would probably be highly inappropriate because they are all about Gruber's sexual orientation or his knowledge on the war's current position. These two things interest the young boy the most, yet he can't ask about them.

"I have no intentions to invade your privacy." the waiter says since he could not think of questions for the soldier. 'Even if you have invaded mine.' he thinks.

"I do not mind, I told you I am an open book. Especially for such nice people like yourself." he won't stop smiling and keeping eye contact.

Anthony is tempted to say out loud all his questions but he simply doesn't have the courage to do so. At least not until the lieutenant directly tells him about his sexuality, which is not very likely to ever happen. He prefers hinting about it mysteriously. Quite understandable in his situation. 

"What did you do before the war?" he finally can think of something appropriate yet interesting to ask. The young waiter is quite curious what could a person like Gruber do before being a soldier. 

The answer surprises him more than he would have expected.

"Before enlisting in the army, I went to an art school." the older man replies proudly. Seems like he has sweet memories from that period of his life.

"I would have never guessed that you have artistic leanings." Anthony states in true astonishment. He doesn't know this is actually a stereotype about gay people.

"I do. I might start a new career related to art after we won the war." he wonders, blissful and confident about the future as always.

"I wish you all the best." the younger replies, while, of course, he hopes they will lose the war and suffer afterwards.

"Thank you! And tell me, what leanings do you have, Anthony?" he looks at the waiter with curiosity in his eyes. The soldier is definitely interested in the younger's leanings...

"I really like literary. I read novels and poems in my free time. I also love philosophy." he could only give such a proper answer because he has already made up the sentences in his mind since he was ninety-nine percent sure the lieutenant will ask about it.

They talk about Anthony again. Somehow they always end up talking about him and his life, although the young male tries his hardest to avoid this. He had no choice but tell Gruber the whole story about how and why he started to like books so much. Surprisingly the two men have pretty much the same taste in literary.

He also tells the older that his dream is to study and become a teacher, but he probably won't have any opportunity to do so. It felt a little bit pathetic, talking about this to a person whose family must be very rich so he has never had such problems. Despite this fact, Gruber was understanding and showed empathy.

Anthony would never admit it but he starts to - slightly - like the weird officer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave feedback, I would appreciate opinions very much :D


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